What Is Presbyopia and How Can It Be Corrected?

As the population in the United States continues to age, presbyopia diagnoses are also on the rise. By the year 2020, 123 million people are expected to be affected by this normal age-related change in vision. Although the change is expected, it is often a significant life-impacting event because it’s a sign of aging that is impossible to ignore and difficult to hide.

What is the Cause of Presbyopia?

Presbyopia is a gradual thickening and loss of flexibility of the natural lens inside the eye that typically occurs after the age of 40. Changes also take place in the muscle fibers surrounding the lens. With less elasticity, the eye has a difficult time focusing up close. Presbyopia differs from astigmatism, nearsightedness and farsightedness, which are related to the actual shape of the eyeball and are caused by genetic and environmental factors.

How to Correct Presbyopia

After the age of 40, most people require the assistance of glasses or contacts because of the effects presbyopia has on near vision. Reading text messages on smartphones, viewing content on digital devices and reading fine print becomes increasingly difficult and uncomfortable.

Those who prefer to enjoy freedom from glasses and contacts have alternate options to improve near vision caused by presbyopia. A number of effective procedure options to treat presbyopia are available and performed at ReVision LASIK & Cataract Surgery.

A comprehensive eye exam and consultation with an Ophthalmologist must be performed on those interested in presbyopia surgical options to determine if they are a good candidate. After determining a presbyopia procedure is appropriate, surgeons like Dr. James Schumer and Dr. Rupa Shah, Ophthalmologists and surgical vision correction experts at ReVision LASIK & Cataract Surgery, perform the selected presbyopia procedure.

A presbyopia correction procedure gaining popularity is implantation of a corneal inlay. Typically implanted in the cornea of the non-dominant eye, a corneal inlay increases depth of focus of the treated eye and reduces the need for reading glasses without significantly affecting the quality of distance vision.

A Monovision LASIK procedure is another option to treat presbyopia. This modified LASIK procedure creates the same effect as monovision with contact lenses, but without the need to wear contacts.

Another presbyopia procedure performed at ReVision LASIK & Cataract Surgery is a refractive lens exchange, also referred to as RLE. A refractive lens exchange is virtually the same procedure as cataract surgery, but in this instance the natural lens being replaced has not yet become clouded by a cataract. After a thorough exam and consulting with the patient regarding their lifestyle and vision preferences, the surgeon selects a multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) or an accommodating intraocular lens to restore near vision.

Selecting a Presbyopia Surgical Option That’s Right for You

The first step to clear vision is to gather all the necessary information to determine which surgical presbyopia option is right for your life. The vision professionals at ReVision LASIK and Cataract Surgery provide a thorough eye examination followed by a personal consultation with an Ophthalmology surgeon. These resources will help guide you in making this very personal, life-changing decision.

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